<AARIE@BGUVM.BITNET> (03/31/91)
On the new record of Madonna it's written: "This recording has been proccessed with QSound,an unrivaled advancment in stereophonic sound technology..."(@QSound Ltd.) I wonder what QSound is.Any clues ? Arik
ted@dgbt.doc.ca (Ted Grusec) (04/01/91)
This is in response to the question about what is Qsound. Qsound is a recording process that tries to provide some degree of 3-dimensional or spatial sound, but using only the conventional 2 stereo channels. It was developed and being marketed by a Canadian company, Archer Communications. The process is "secret" but probably involves phase shifting differentially across the frequency spectrum. It is not clear at this time how successful the process is from a perceptual standpoint. Some technical people are enthusiastic. Others believe it's a gimmick which sounds unnatural. A feww record companies are trying it on some records. Related schemes have been tried in various forms since the 70's or earlier. In my personal opinion it will go nowhere on serious music - at best may have some future "special effects" audio. If you get such a recording, play around with speaker placement, listening position, etc. You may or may not hear a difference.
rivero@dev8.mdcbbs.com (04/02/91)
In article <1991Mar31.214440.19139@dgbt.doc.ca>, ted@dgbt.doc.ca (Ted Grusec) writes: > This is in response to the question about what is Qsound. Qsound is a > recording process that tries to provide some degree of 3-dimensional > or spatial sound, but using only the conventional 2 stereo channels. > It was developed and being marketed by a Canadian company, Archer > Communications. The process is "secret" but probably involves phase > shifting differentially across the frequency spectrum. It is not clear > at this time how successful the process is from a perceptual > standpoint. Some technical people are enthusiastic. Others believe > it's a gimmick which sounds unnatural. A feww record companies are > trying it on some records. Related schemes have been tried in various > forms since the 70's or earlier. In my personal opinion it will go > nowhere on serious music - at best may have some future "special > effects" audio. If you get such a recording, play around with speaker > placement, listening position, etc. You may or may not hear a > difference. The process is not secret, but it is patented. It is simply an arrangement of seperate speakers ( one for each channel of source) arranged inside an acoustic room near two microphones which represent the stereo output. The speakers are arranged according to the desired direction of sound, and the multi channel playback is recorded by the microphones. The true geometric placement of speaker and microphones does indeed increase the sense of realism, and there is a noticable improvement, especially through headphones. It's one of those great ideas everyone else wishes they had thought of.
eethomas@cybaswan.UUCP (Andrew Thomas) (04/02/91)
In article <91090.130526AARIE@BGUVM.BITNET> AARIE@BGUVM.BITNET writes: >On the new record of Madonna it's written: >"This recording has been proccessed with QSound,an unrivaled advancment in >stereophonic sound technology..."(@QSound Ltd.) > >I wonder what QSound is.Any clues ? > >Arik Yes, QSound is an attempt at 3D stereo. Conventional stereo is an illusion, making an instrument appear louder in one speaker makes the position of the instrument appear to move. QSound more accurately models the process by which the sound from an instrument reaches the two ears, in that not only the volume but also the phase of the signals and the time at which it reaches the ear is also accurately simulated. This was recently demonstrated very effectively on UK TV and radio, and a large discussion on it has taken place on rec.music.misc. It is an amazing system which, from the demo I heard, can make sounds come from all around. It will have a very large impact in recorded music. Andrew Thomas. eethomas@pyr.swan.ac.uk
driesse@qucis.queensu.CA (Anthonie Driesse) (04/04/91)
The way the recordng process is described, it seems that the two playback speakers should ideally be positioned the same way as the microphones used to make the recording. Then it is also logical why the effect is best with headphones, but I don't see the novelty in the recording process: what makes this different from placing the two microphones in a concerthall to make the recording live rather than from a multi- channel speaker reproduction? Anton.
ogata@leviathan.cs.umd.edu (Jefferson Ogata) (04/04/91)
In article <1433@qusunc.queensu.CA> driesse@qucis.queensu.CA (Anthonie Driesse) writes: |> The way the recordng process is described, it seems that the two playback |> speakers should ideally be positioned the same way as the microphones |> used to make the recording. Then it is also logical why the effect |> is best with headphones, but I don't see the novelty in the recording |> process: what makes this different from placing the two microphones |> in a concerthall to make the recording live rather than from a multi- |> channel speaker reproduction? |> |> Anton. I think the point is that there is a speaker for *each* channel that is being given a discrete location. This refers to channels that have been recorded by any means whatsoever, not just stereo pairs from two mikes. This method duplicates not only the relative volume effect achieved by typical pan controls, but also the time delay between channels that is rarely if ever present in mixed-down studio recordings. The human ear actually determines the location of a sound more by the time delay than by the relative amplitude, believe it or not. (The delay I'm talking about arises because a sound coming from your right reaches your right ear first. The ear uses this phase delay to figure out where the sound is coming from. The sound would also be *louder* in the right ear, but the delay is more important to the ear.) Common mixing boards provide pan controls for adjusting the relative amplitude, but it is a major pain to try to introduce the delay, and the actual delay time should vary according to the listener's speaker placement and location. So as far as I know, no one's ever gone to the trouble before to put in channel delays for panning effect. This is effectively what Qsound is doing, if I understand the original poster correctly. -- Jefferson Ogata ogata@cs.umd.edu University Of Maryland Department of Computer Science
ted@dgbt.doc.ca (Ted Grusec) (04/05/91)
For a technical description and an appraisal of Qsound, see STEREOPHILE, vol 13, #1, November 1990. Briefly, it manipulates phase differentially between the two channels. It's a gimmick which has been done before in principle. It is not serious spatial sound.
eethomas@cybaswan.UUCP (Andrew Thomas) (04/06/91)
In article <32445@mimsy.umd.edu> ogata@leviathan.cs.umd.edu (Jefferson Ogata) writes: >Common mixing boards provide pan controls for adjusting the relative >amplitude, but it is a major pain to try to introduce the delay, and >the actual delay time should vary according to the listener's speaker >placement and location. So as far as I know, no one's ever gone to the >trouble before to put in channel delays for panning effect. This is >effectively what Qsound is doing, if I understand the original poster >correctly. >-- >Jefferson Ogata ogata@cs.umd.edu >University Of Maryland Department of Computer Science Yes, you're quite right. And it was all demonstrated on UK television recently. The whole system is contained in a rather smart white box about the size of a briefcase. Dials on the box can be turned to move the position of instruments to the edge of the normal stereo pan, and then beyond. You're quite right about the phase delay. As for the acoustic room with speakers and mikes, I don't know where the person who mentioned it saw it, but I find it extremely hard to believe. If this is an alternative system it's got no chance. The method I saw was much more sophisticated. I believe an earlier posting mentioned something about simulating phase shifts, which sounds more like it. Andrew Thomas eethomas@pyr.swan.ac.uk
brownd@agnes.acc.stolaf.edu (David H. Brown) (04/08/91)
QSound is most likely derived from phasing and EQ; it may also be
working with timing cues to provide an extended stereo image. My only QSound
recording (currently) is Sting's latest album on A&M records. (I'm blocking
on the name right now, sorry.) It claims that sounds will be heard from
outside the speakers from a centered listening position. Indeed, the sound
did, to my ears, appear to be more spatious than on some other recordings,
but I was paying attention. However, the sound over headphones was somewhat
disappointing... there seemed to be a lack of a strong phantom center at
times.
Don't expect anything like surround sound from QSound. But it does
seem to do some interesting things with two speakers.
On a related note, wasn't Roland recently working on an
ambience/localization processor which could localize a sound in three
dimensions using only two speakers? I'll try to find the review if anyone
asks, but I think that this processor required the listeners to be centered
(as does QSound) and didn't "work" for everybody (as QSound does not).
Very interesting, though. Oh, yes. Sting's album is called
_The_Soul_Cages_. (Very musical, but somewhat depressing.)
St. Olaf may or may not have nothing | M M | M M M | M M | M M M | M M |
to do with the things I talk about. | M M | M M M | M M | M M M | M M |
| M M | M M M | M M | M M M | M M |
Dave Brown: brownd@agnes.acc.stolaf.edu | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
"I _like_ programming the DX-7!" |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|